AGAINST WAVE OF
SMALL COLLEGE
CLOSURES, SAU &
SHAW STRUGGLE
TO SURVIVE
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
Editor's note - this is part two of a two-part series.
In all probability, you’ve never heard of Cabrini University in Radnor Pa., Cazenovia University near Syracuse, NY or Hodges University in Fort Myers, Fla.. And unless the discussion is about small, private, predominately white tuition-dependent colleges or universities that were among the 91 since 2016 that, according to CNBC, “…have closed, merged, or announced plans to close,” you never will.
But if you’re here in North Carolina, you probably are familiar with St. Augustine’s University (SAU) in Raleigh, founded in 1867; Shaw University in Raleigh, founded in 1865 (the oldest in the South); Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, founded in 1873; Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, founded in 1867, or Livingstone College in Salisbury, founded in 1879.
Those are the five small, private, tuition-based historically Black colleges and universities in the state..
Add to those Barber-Scotia College in Concord, founded in 1867. The school lost its accreditation twenty years ago, and today, operates with only four students enrolled. It is working to regain its accreditation.
And you may have also heard of Kittrell College in Vance County, founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1886. In 1975, because of low enrollment, that school was forced to close.
Here in North Carolina, which is blessed with ten fully functioning HBCUs, all five private institutions are at risk of going the way of Barber-Scotia or Kittrell, because their share of available students is being depleted primarily because of strong competition from state-supported institutions like N.C. A&T University and N.C. Central University, or discounted tuition schools like Fayetteville State University or Elizabeth City State University.
Small private colleges, especially HBCUs, also have small endowments, with no real way to generate revenue because of tuition-based enrollments falling, rising costs and lackluster fundraising. Many are still recovering from the pandemic.
Right now, at least one of those small, private HBCUs - Shaw University in Raleigh - saw the hand writing on the wall, and has made long-term, albeit controversial moves to stay alive into the future. The school has created the “Shaw U District”, and university leaders believe that leasing portions of Shaw’s downtown 27-acre campus to outside developers for retail - residential and office developments will create the necessary, and constant revenue stream required to upgrade its facilities and physical plant.
In turn, according to Shaw University Pres. Dr. Paulette Dillard, Shaw will be able to compete for students against better resourced colleges and universities.
"We have to be able to appeal to a broad sector of students. And that means amenities have to be consistent with that," Dr. Dillard told WTVD-11 in August 2023 "And that takes money."
Based on Shaw University’s announced planning, it seems that the school has already determined how to chart the course for its future, and neither merger nor closing its doors are part of that plan.
Across town at St. Augustine’s University, however, “life -support” seems to be the appropriate term for that embattled HBCU's current status. Faced with lawsuits, a diminished student enrollment (just 200 this academic year, down from a high of over 1,500), a mountain of debt and weak reinstatement of its accreditation, the school’s problems seem to be text book for what traditionally drags a small college to the brink of closure.
Last February, prominent Raleigh business leaders Jim Goodmon, chairman of Capital Broadcasting Co.; Smedes York, co-owner and chairman of McDonald-York Building Co., and Orage Quarles, former publisher of The News and Observer Newspaper, met with SAU Board Chair Brian Boulware and Interim Pres. Marcus Burgess; Shaw University Pres. Dillard and her board Chairman Joseph Bell Jr., to discuss the fact that both schools faced questionable futures, and it made sense for them to consider merger, or at least sharing operational resources.
“The idea was to present the option for [both schools] to think about getting together because of their declining enrollments,” Mr. York, whose great, great, great uncle was one of the founders of St. Augustine’s University, said during an interview last July.
Mr. Quarles, who said little at that meeting, but listened intently, made clear that the intention of the meeting was only to help both schools.
“I realize that one is Baptist and one is Episcopalian, but I’m trying to make sure they survive because everyday, you see small colleges around the country closing. This is something not unique to Raleigh, not unique to HBCU’s. Small colleges all around the country are closing,” Quarles, an African-American, said.
“Both schools have land, so I was thinking, is there a way that both schools can survive as one, and if they can, that makes sense.”
SAU Chairman Boulware insists that meeting was called to pressure both SAU and Shaw U into a merger that would free up Shaw’s downtown property for developers, but Goodman, York and Quarles deny that, and Shaw leaders had already made a deal with developers that allowed development on some of its property. And those plans are going forward.
Given the trend of small, private tuition-based colleges either closing or merging across the country in recent years, St. Augustine’s University, in particular, will have to make some tough decisions in the coming years about its future.
But time is running out.
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OVER 747,000 VOTERS ARE
REMOVED FROM THE
VOTER ROLLS BY NCSBE
By Cash Michaels
Contributing writer
If you have moved within the state since the last election without updating your address, or missed voting in the last two federal elections, there’s a good possibility that you’re among the 747, 274 out of North Carolina’s 7.7 million registered voters who were recently removed from the state’s voting rolls.
The North Carolina State Board of Elections recently announced that it purged its voting rolls of those registered voters it considers to be ineligible to vote for the 2024 election. The reasons for the purge include moving within the state without notifying the local county board of election (289,902 removed); failing to vote in two federal elections within the past eight years (246,311); deceased (130,688); moved from state (31, 242); duplicating/merged voter registration (26, 939); felony conviction (18, 883); request from voter (2,329); other (980)
It is not publicly known how many of the 747,274 removed are either Democrat or Republican. Add to that a lawsuit by the NC Republican Party seeking the removal of 225,000 registered voters it says are ineligible because “…certain statutorily required information” was not collected during the registration of those voters.
"List maintenance is one of the primary responsibilities of election officials across North Carolina, and we take this responsibility seriously," said Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the State Board of Elections. "Unfortunately, there is a lot of false information out there about our voter rolls and the efforts we undertake to keep them up to date. As we conduct these processes, we also must comply with state and federal laws and be careful not to remove any eligible voters."
Bell added that the process of removing ineligible voters from the voting list is ongoing.
Reportedly, county boards of election removed an average of over 1,200 registered voters a day since the beginning of 2023 to August 2024. Only those voters officially deemed ineligible were removed.
The state Court of Appeals has also ruled that college students attending UNC at Chapel Hill cannot use their approved digital identification as a valid form of voter ID.
Bishop William Barber, co-convener of the Poor People's Campaign, issued a statement urging North Carolinians to check online to ensure that they are properly registered to vote.
"I encourage you to visit Vote.org/ppc to check your registration status and review important deadlines ahead of the elections. You can also use the link to register to vote, find your local polling place, request an absentee ballot if you need to, and review your ballot ahead of time."
The General Election is November 5th.
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